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A New National Strategic Narrative

Manifest Destiny

Broderick Hicks
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Under the pseudonym Mr. Y, two top ranking members of the Joints of Chief Staff released an essay through the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars which outlined a new set of priorities the United States should impse regarding our national policy.

The main gist of the essay is that the US has been neglecting its real source of power (an educated youth, well built infrastructure and strong economy) in favor of continuously bolstering our military to defend, deter and dominate a closed system of international power that no longer exists.

Instead of "containing" others, from the communists of the past to the terrorists of today, we should be sustaining ourselves in a way that builds our strengths.

Their solutions are wide ranging and make for quite an interesting read. I really identified with their opinion regarding a need for a change in our national outlook in terms of opportunities vs. threats. I feel that we are far too concerned with outlining every threat that could possibly be out there that we tend to overlook the vast opportunities of this new global world.

I have attached the link below and welcome your opinions on the subject.

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/events/docs/A%20National%20Strategic%20Narrative.pdf
 
Interesting read. It fits in very well with a book I've suggested on here a long time ago called "America's Inadvertent Empire" by former NSA director William Odom. I think you might like it. It's pretty dense though. You have to like this stuff.

The basic premise is that the US by default created a new type of global power structure called a "Liberal Empire", the strengths of which were derived by individual rights and being open....which is the same view as the piece you linked to. Odom believes from a national security perspective that we need to view the world in the context of an open "Liberal Empire" and not make the mistakes of governing or defining policy based on a traditional European empire. Unfortunately, the debate almost always goes back to that because people always define things by the past. Mr Y is basically making the same points, riffing off of a closed European empirical viewpoint. But we aren't the British empire and never have been. We should not define ourselves that way when that's not what is really there.

Odom argues that the global system that everyone wants to be a part of and is building is American, and in order for others to maximize their success, they have to adopt all of the basic American institutions. So as long as we stay the course by being open, and are not swayed by "defeatism", we will always be successful. That is something Mr Y also points out.
 
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